European Tree Frog

(Hyla arborea)

Facts

IUCN LEAST CONCERN (LC)

Facts about this animal

An elegant slim frog with very long and slim hind legs and a body length of 3 – 4 cm (up to 5 cm). The skin is very smooth. Green with an uninterrupted dorsolateral black line bordered with white from the nose down on both sides. Sometimes specimens may be greyish-brown. The belly is whitish. The pupil of the eye is horizontal.

Most of the year they live on dry land. During daytime they often doze on the stems and broad leaves of trees, bushes and large herbaceous vegetation in full sunlight (contrary to other frogs they loose relatively little water due to special skin secretion). In the evening and at night they search on land for insects, spiders and snails. Its ability for long leaps makes it possible to forage on fast flying insects. The males gather from April to July in water bodies for nightly choirs, which can be heard from up to 1 km. The females visit the water bodies only for one night.

The male clasps the female from above and the latter lays 500-1000 eggs, which are laid in individual small packages. Tadpoles hatch already after 4-8 days. They frequent the open water, where they are easy pray for fish and water insects. If the water temperature allows it, the metamorphose will occur in 40-60 days. In winter these frogs undergo a cold rigor, deeply hidden under moss, roots, stones or grass or in the earth (even in mouse holes).

Did you know?
“Hyla”originates from the Greek meaning “to bark” and this species indeed has a loud bark-like call. “Arborea” comes from the Latin and means “of the trees”, pointing to the arboreal way of living. Indeed the tips of their fingers and toes are expanded into discs and a gluey liquid is secreted with muscular exertion which alllows adhesion. Therefore H. arborea is an excellent climber At the beginning of the year, specimens tend to be darker due to their need to heat up faster. However coloration can also change depending on the substrate. The European Tree Frog was nominated to the "Frog of the Year 2008" by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde e.V. "(DGHT)",

In suitable habitats and in the southern part of the range this is a common amphibian. However in West and Central Europe the tree frog displays a considerable decline. It is caused by loss of breeding habitats, habitat isolation and fragmentation (including loss and fragmentation of forests, bush groves and meadows), the drainage and pollution of wetlands (industrial and agricultural) and predatory fish species and collecting by people, as well as climate changes. Therefore, protection of habitats seems to be the most important method of conservation of H. arborea.